Keepers Tour: Cobbled Classics 2013

The Hardmen. They inspire us; we aspire to be one among them. They are the solitary voice among the thousands in our heads that tell us to keep pushing when all the others tell us to stop. Their long shadows look on in approval as we pull on our cold and wet weather gear and head out into the elements to ride.

Every serious Cyclist is a hard man or woman; it comes with the territory. But to be given the title of Hardman, one must be more than just tough. The Hardmen stand out among the rest as the ones who ride over the savage, jagged cobblestones of Northern Europe with a souplesse that is possessed only by those riders who thrive in the most torturous of road cycling’s domains: The Cobbled Classics of Northern Europe.

The friendships forged over the 2012 edition of Keepers Tour with 9 days of riding the cobbles of Flanders and Northern France, drinking the best of Belgian beer, and eating the finest French cuisine leave an indelible mark on not only the Keepers, but all those who attend. Cycling has that ability to bring people together, and we count ourselves very blessed to have met such a great bunch of souls who we are proud to call our mates.

At this time we are accepting reservations for the full Keepers Tour, and now we also include weekend and daily packages. Once the reservation is confirmed, we will collect a 20% deposit with the balance due upon arrival in Lille.

Attendees should be comfortable riding in groups and be able to ride 150km several times in a week at a 28-30kph pace; some groups may elect to go faster but these are non-competitive rides. There will be lots of cobbles, and lots of short, steep climbs – sometimes both at the same time, so prepare yourself accordingly. We will usually have sag support, and riders who are unable to keep up may be asked to climb in the car. Or to Survive on V.

Great song as well. What is it? Probably going to sound like an idiot here (wouldn’t be the first time) but it almost sounds like the Kinks, or at least one of the Davies. I have never heard it before. Someone help me here?

It’s an Australian band called Papa vs. Pretty. The song is called “Sleep (again),” but I’ve never heard this version before. It’s much cooler than the one I have on my iTunes.

That video is incredible, and finally gives me perspective on just how high Frank’s seatpost really is. I’m a sawed off little fuck, and I’m pretty sure my feet wouldn’t reach the pedals.

@Frank, how many cm from the top of the saddle to the ground?

Wow! Love this site and learning new stuff not only about cycling but music as well! I youtube’d (is that a verb?) the band and listened to the other version. I agree, the one here is much better but the other one is good as well in my opinion.

It appears Johan brought his 16 year old son. Apparently he wants to teach his kid how to swear properly in English. Its an important skill for many career paths, especially assuming he’s on track to go Pro Cycling.

Merd! We’re going to get our asses handed to us by the Lion Cub of Flanders.

Fooock, just saw this after making the other post about it! Tell me it wasn’t you or one of our brethren that brought down Sparty today on his recon ride!!!

Great song as well. What is it? Probably going to sound like an idiot here (wouldn’t be the first time) but it almost sounds like the Kinks, or at least one of the Davies. I have never heard it before. Someone help me here?

It’s an Australian band called Papa vs. Pretty. The song is called “Sleep (again),” but I’ve never heard this version before. It’s much cooler than the one I have on my iTunes.

THANK you. I was busting my head trying to figure that out, trying all sorts of internet sleuthing And was not even close. And you are spot on re: this version vs. the album track. I think some young bands go for a lot of production gimmicks because they lack confidence in the songs or their capacity to say no.

Great song as well. What is it? Probably going to sound like an idiot here (wouldn’t be the first time) but it almost sounds like the Kinks, or at least one of the Davies. I have never heard it before. Someone help me here?

It’s an Australian band called Papa vs. Pretty. The song is called “Sleep (again),” but I’ve never heard this version before. It’s much cooler than the one I have on my iTunes.

THANK you. I was busting my head trying to figure that out, trying all sorts of internet sleuthing And was not even close. And you are spot on re: this version vs. the album track. I think some young bands go for a lot of production gimmicks because they lack confidence in the songs or their capacity to say no.

Too much make up on a natural beauty.

No problem. I spend my Sunday mornings as a volunteer DJ, playing world music on the local community radio station. I do my riding on Sunday afternoon.

He rode Roubaix with us yesterday. He’s got some force in his legs, that’s for sure. He just needs some age to get the power to keep it up. He and Johan attacked before Mons en Pavel and broke away together. He almost made it, too. It was cool to see Johan mentor his son.

Wednesday was track day on KT. I sat it out this year and rested on mylaurels from KT12. I was tired as fuck actually from Liege so took the opportunity to play around with William’s camera. The lads were ripping it up, and Franco was telling us how the track was his specialty moments before ending up on his arse. We loaded up on Malteni for the drive to Antwerpen for the Scheldepriis and the VIP treatment…

So we got to the finish area and went to find Museeuw in his promo van. There was this steward on the ergo bike showing more form than we needed to see… when I pointed him out to Johan, he took an iPhone shot then showed the steward who quickly became a tad more modest, much to the amusement of the crowd. VIP beers flowed then we headed to the grandstand for the race finish. It’s not what you know…

Then it was off to see the AG2R team and have a chat with Hugo Houles and check out the mechanics area which, lets face it, was the highlight. They even let us on the bus. Very cool to check out how the team pretends to ease the suffering of being a Pro.

Today we ride RVV with Johan again. Can’t wait. We do a version of the original route because the Velominati don’t officially recognize the new route. We’ll hit the classics like the Eikenberg, Kwaremont, Paterberg, Taienberg, Koppenberg, Kapelmuur, Bosberg et al.

From memory, the Koppenberg is the hardest on the route. Steep as shit in the middel, and steep as a steep thing slightly less steep than shit everywhere else.

Anyone care to post that classic video of the old P-R race, with the riders raiding the coffee shops for brandy and the poor sod getting slower and slower until he passes out and falls in an ambulance – I think Oli used to lob it up about this glorious time of year

Now that is a great reminder of what it means to peg the meter, and the fan assisted accents were perfect. At one point they had a type of relay going on. One of the defining points to the whole race is when the pros just get back on there bikes by default and ride because failure is not an option . Now the riders wouldn’t hesitate to jump in the team car or the broom wagon. Thanks for posting.

The Buckler jersey. I’ve only ever seen N/A beer from Buckler. Do they make real beer? That would really blow to be sponsored by a non-alcoholic beer.

A denim apron? NOoooo!

Has fi'zi:k gotten into the squishy tape market? Some of the Focus bikes look to have the rubbery tape some manufacturers have out. I have it on my cross bike, might just have to put it on the road bikes too. It really makes grabbing the bars a pleasure, it feels so darn nice.

What exactly was kept in the “Fitness” container?

Shoes. Those Sidis look pretty broken in. Do some PROs like to ride the same shoes for a long time? I would, considering how long it took me to get some of my Sidis to be comfortable.

Also, can anyone venture a guess as to why guys used to ride the same saddle forever, a Regal or such, and now it seems as if everyone is on brand new Ariones, Aliantes, or a Prologo saddle. What caused the switch from classic, broken-in saddles to new ones?

GREAT photo of Frank there! Wow, I’d feel blessed to be that close to Cancellara as he powered on by. Very cool!